Psalm Meditation 759
Second Sunday After Christmas
January 4, 2015

Psalm 138
1 I give you thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your praise;
2 I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness; for you have exalted your name and your word above everything.
3 On the day I called, you answered me, you increased my strength of soul.
4 All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O LORD, for they have heard the words of your mouth.
5 They shall sing of the ways of the LORD, for great is the glory of the LORD.
6 For though the LORD is high, he regards the lowly; but the haughty he perceives from far away.
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies; you stretch out your hand, and your right hand delivers me.
8 The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.
(NRSV)

At our best, we are overwhelmed with thankfulness and it spills out of us. We may have a list of things for which we are grateful; all the ways we have noticed God being good to us. We may become aware that there is so much good going on in and around us that we can’t possibly list it all, so we lift up a ‘thank you’ knowing that it is does not come near to expressing the depth of our gratitude for all that God does and is for us.

In one of those ‘two kinds of people’ distinctions, there are folks who want to be thanked for what they do and folks who want to be thanked for who they are. If you thank them for something in the other category they feel less appreciated than if they are thanked in the area that touches them. God is equally touched by both types of thanks. It may be that God is especially glad when we can move beyond our own comfort zone and thank God for something in the other category.

However we go about it, it is good to make the time to give God thanks. We can present God with a list of things for which we are grateful, we can thank God for being present in our lives or we can mix the two together. Some folks say that God does not need anything from us. While that may be true, God does appreciate our thanks, our praise, our desire to spend time in the presence of God whether we are alone or carry God’s presence with us in every part of our day.

December 29, 2014
LCM

Psalm Meditation 758
First Sunday After Christmas
December 28, 2014

Psalm 63
1 O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.
4 So I will bless you as long as I live; I will lift up my hands and call on your name.
5 My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast, and my mouth praises you with joyful lips
6 when I think of you on my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
7 for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
8 My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.
9 But those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth;
10 they shall be given over to the power of the sword, they shall be prey for jackals.
11 But the king shall rejoice in God; all who swear by him shall exult, for the mouths of liars will be stopped.
(NRSV)

Every now and then we feel lost and separated from God. In those times we may find ourselves running around desperately searching for some track or trail that will lead us back into the presence of God. It almost seems that the more desperately we search the less likely we are to find any evidence that God is anywhere near us. We forget the advice we give to children, ‘as soon as you realize you are lost, stop so that we can come to you. You will be much easier to find if you stay in one place.’

Once we exit panic mode we can rest quietly, look around and notice that God continues to be present with us. It may be a small and inconspicuous presence but present none the less. Wherever we are when we rediscover that God is with us is likely to become a sacred space, a sanctuary for us. The sense of relief that we are not really, and never have been, alone makes the space where we find ourselves a holy space and life is good. It may be a physical place that becomes holy and it may be an internal space that renews our sense of holiness.

The fears and doubts that have stood as obstacles for us can be brushed aside and left to shrivel and die. The next time doubts and fears rise against us we can resist a bit more readily as we relax and rest into the assurance that while we may be lost, we are not abandoned. The presence of God surrounds us, shadows and shields us even in the times we are least sure of that God is with us. Our seeking and thirsting becomes less agitated and more focused on waiting than on scurrying about as if we can find God by the content of our busy-ness.

December 22, 2014
LCM

Psalm Meditation 757
Fourth Sunday of Advent
December 21, 2014

Psalm 113
1 Praise the LORD! Praise, O servants of the LORD; praise the name of the LORD.
2 Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time on and forevermore.
3 From the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the LORD is to be praised.
4 The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens.
5 Who is like the LORD our God, who is seated on high,
6 who looks far down on the heavens and the earth?
7 He raises the poor from the dust, and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
8 to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people.
9 He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the LORD!
(NRSV)

We want to believe that the rich are rich because they deserve it and the poor are poor for the same reason. Some exceptions to this are, if our status changes from rich to poor and if the status of someone we don’t like goes from poor to rich. In that case we are aware that there are outside forces at work in society that have caused this change in economic status. It doesn’t have to be a drastic change, it just has to go the ‘wrong’ way. The events the psalmist envisions would be unnerving to many of us.

It is often the case that the activity of God is unsettling to those of us who say we live by some code of fairness. In one code of fairness hard work leads to great success and riches and laziness leads to destruction and poverty. There are hard working folks in every economic strata and lazy folks right next to them. Fairness is probably not an indicator of the future. The good thing in this psalm is that God raises the poor to sit with princes rather than bringing the rich down to the sit among the poor. In the economy of God, there will be no poverty.

In a culture in which a woman’s sense of meaningfulness was based in her ability to bear and raise children, the psalmist does not leave out women from the society of those who praise and bless God. While our definition of the ideal society may have changed, we continue to know that God is an important part of an excellent life for people of God. To live in the presence of God is to have enough and, at least, a little extra. To live in the presence of God is to have a life of meaning, however one may define it. To live in the presence of God, as women and men of God, is to find times, places and ways to praise and bless God.

December 15, 2014
LCM

Psalm Meditation 756
Third Sunday of Advent
December 14, 2014

Psalm 38
1 O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger, or discipline me in your wrath.
2 For your arrows have sunk into me, and your hand has come down on me.
3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin.
4 For my iniquities have gone over my head; they weigh like a burden too heavy for me.
5 My wounds grow foul and fester because of my foolishness;
6 I am utterly bowed down and prostrate; all day long I go around mourning.
7 For my loins are filled with burning, and there is no soundness in my flesh.
8 I am utterly spent and crushed; I groan because of the tumult of my heart.
9 O Lord, all my longing is known to you; my sighing is not hidden from you.
10 My heart throbs, my strength fails me; as for the light of my eyes—it also has gone from me.
11 My friends and companions stand aloof from my affliction, and my neighbors stand far off.
12 Those who seek my life lay their snares; those who seek to hurt me speak of ruin, and meditate treachery all day long.
13 But I am like the deaf, I do not hear; like the mute, who cannot speak.
14 Truly, I am like one who does not hear, and in whose mouth is no retort.
15 But it is for you, O LORD, that I wait; it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.
16 For I pray, “Only do not let them rejoice over me, those who boast against me when my foot slips.”
17 For I am ready to fall, and my pain is ever with me.
18 I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin.
19 Those who are my foes without cause are mighty, and many are those who hate me wrongfully.
20 Those who render me evil for good are my adversaries because I follow after good.
21 Do not forsake me, O LORD; O my God, do not be far from me;
22 make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation.
(NRSV)

With a worldview in which God is a despotic ruler, every action has a cost and promise as a direct response from God. If we do well, God gives a reward, a promise. If we do badly, God punishes us, a cost. Here the psalmist is reeling from the effects of a bad course of action. To exact the cost God conscripts others to add to the physical and emotional toll the psalmist must pay. Even friends are wise enough to stay out of the way of the execution of God’s justice. As is often the case, the psalmist claims that this high a price is not in line with the sin being punished. When God is in charge with no room for negotiation there is no choice but to throw ourselves on the mercy of God for our sins.

If, instead, God has given the opportunity for each of us to make our own choices and reap the cost and promise of those actions our view of God can change. In this worldview we are not so much punished for our sin as we are punished by our sin. It is not God who exacts the punishment. God neither causes the reaction to our activity nor protects us from our actions or the actions of others. This frees God to be with us in all times and places. God can rejoice with us and ache with us. It is not God who has changed; our view of the world colors how we experience the presence of God.

Some are reluctant to believe that God is present in any other way than that expressed in Scripture. For them God will always be a distant judge waiting for us to do something that warrants either extra favors or extra punishments. God is one of whom to be afraid. Others are willing to allow our views of God to change as our worldview changes. God continues to be God and we find new and meaningful ways to relate as our perception of what it means to be people of God ebbs and flows.

December 8, 2014
LCM

Psalm Meditation 755
Second Sunday of Advent
December 7, 2014

Psalm 88
1 O LORD, God of my salvation, when, at night, I cry out in your presence,
2 let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry.
3 For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol.
4 I am counted among those who go down to the Pit; I am like those who have no help,
5 like those forsaken among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand.
6 You have put me in the depths of the Pit, in the regions dark and deep.
7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah
8 You have caused my companions to shun me; you have made me a thing of horror to them. I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
9 my eye grows dim through sorrow. Every day I call on you, O LORD; I spread out my hands to you.
10 Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the shades rise up to praise you? Selah
11 Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
12 Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your saving help in the land of forgetfulness?
13 But I, O LORD, cry out to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 O LORD, why do you cast me off? Why do you hide your face from me?
15 Wretched and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors; I am desperate.
16 Your wrath has swept over me; your dread assaults destroy me.
17 They surround me like a flood all day long; from all sides they close in on me.
18 You have caused friend and neighbor to shun me; my companions are in darkness.
(NRSV)

This may be the single most depressing psalm of the entire book. While most of the psalms of lament end with a word of hope, this one does not. In some translations, the last phrase of the psalm is, ‘and darkness is my only friend.’ If you are in the mood to be depressed this is the psalm to read to make sure you make it as deep into depression as possible. However, if you are already depressed this psalm may serve to give you hope. It serves as a reminder that you are not the only one who has ever felt abandoned by your friends as well as by God. Realizing that you are not alone is a great step in dealing with depression.

In the midst of this feeling of abandonment by one and all the psalmist still addresses the psalm to God. When no one else is listening, God is still there, still loving us and caring for us, even when we have no awareness or experience of God’s presence. The feeling that someone is listening to us in our darkest moments, that there is some reason to lift our voices into the seeming void of existence may be our assurance that God is there and that we are not as alone as it seems.

Laying claim to this psalm as a personal statement of a sense of feeling helpless, hopeless and worthless has the potential to lead us forward to a renewed faith. At some point the last phrase of the last verse will bring a curl of a smile to our lips as we realize that we are addressing the psalm to one who is our friend and is not darkness. That may give us the strength to find someone else who is not in darkness until we find a source of light for ourselves. This psalm will not treat or cure depression or even loss of faith, however it may give us the wherewithal to seek the resources we need to move forward.

December 2, 2014
LCM

Psalm Meditation 754
First Sunday of Advent
November 30, 2014

Psalm 13
1 How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
3 Consider and answer me, O LORD my God! Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
4 and my enemy will say, “I have prevailed”; my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.
5 But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.
(NRSV)

As we live out our lives we become the bearers of pain and sorrow to some degree or another. Some seem to bear more than their share while others manage to avoid much of the suffering that goes with being human. Those who suffer will do so for the rest of their lives in some form. Suffering is not something that goes away, it is incorporated into the fabric of our lives. Physical wounds leave their imprint on us forever. Bones heal and flesh scars over, each leaving a mark that serves as a reminder of our injuries.

Emotional and spiritual wounds leave their mark as well. They are not as visible to the eye, perhaps because the wound is felt more deeply than skin and bone. Our temptation is to encourage folks to move past these deeper wounds more quickly, as if the lack of a physical mark makes them less damaging. In truth, these psychic wounds are frighteningly more damaging than any physical one. There are folks who will rehearse their grief, getting stuck at an early stage of the process and refusing to go any deeper. There are others who will mine the depths of grief and find a way to weave it into the lives that lie before them.

The psalmist decides to lean on the steadfast love of God. As is true for the rest of us, the hope is that God will take the suffering away, to make it as if it never happened. I can’t imagine going through life without reminders of suffering. The bittersweet memories, the harsh lessons, the mementos of experiences that are a part of us, even those we hope never to go through again. The steadfast love of God gives us a place to lean, a place to wait, a place to find a way to incorporate suffering into the wholeness of our lives from this day onward.

November 24, 2014
LCM

Psalm Meditation 753
Reign of Christ Sunday
November 23, 2014

Psalm 139
1 O LORD, you have searched me and known me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.
3 You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue, O LORD, you know it completely.
5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.
7 Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.
13 For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.
17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
18 I try to count them—they are more than the sand; I come to the end—I am still with you.
19 O that you would kill the wicked, O God, and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me—
20 those who speak of you maliciously, and lift themselves up against you for evil!
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts.
24 See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
(NRSV)

As a child I could not imagine how my parents knew what I was doing when I was supposed to be sleeping. How did they know I was up when I was supposed to be down, that my eyes were open when they were supposed to be closed, that I was whispering when I was supposed to be quiet? As I became a parent I realized that what felt like sneaking to me as a child was not nearly as sneaky as I thought. With upstairs bedrooms, even a child’s tip toe makes the downstairs ceiling creak and pop. If an adult can perceive the child’s attempt at stealth, how much more aware is God of my activities in any part of my life.

While it can be unnerving to know we are being watched when we would rather we were not, it is deeply comforting to know when we are insecure or otherwise afraid. To know that someone who loves us has eyes and ears open to our situation can give us the courage to move ahead, to take the next step, as our fears work to bring us to a halt. The knowledge that those eyes can see deeper than the surface and the ears hears more than our minds can imagine adds to the sense of comfort in the presence of God.

The psalmist asks that God search for all the wicked parts and pieces of heart and mind so that there is a clear path ahead. It is tempting to believe that we are able to find our way to God on our own strength and power, that we can muscle our way forward through all the trial and temptations and finally win our way to God. The psalmist reminds us that it is God who leads us best, who points out the spots to avoid, who makes it possible for us to find the way into the presence of God.

November 17, 2014
LCM

Psalm Meditation 752
Twenty third Sunday of Ordinary Time
November 16, 2014

Psalm 62
1 For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.
2 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall never be shaken.
3 How long will you assail a person, will you batter your victim, all of you, as you would a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
4 Their only plan is to bring down a person of prominence. They take pleasure in falsehood; they bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. Selah
5 For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him.
6 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
7 On God rests my deliverance and my honor; my mighty rock, my refuge is in God.
8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah
9 Those of low estate are but a breath, those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath.
10 Put no confidence in extortion, and set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, do not set your heart on them.
11 Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God,
12 and steadfast love belongs to you, O Lord. For you repay to all according to their work.
(NRSV)

For many of us sitting in silence means that no sounds are coming out of our mouths and that we are not physically moving. Our minds are probably racing as we make lists of things we need or want to do, as we run through our list of joys and concerns, as we carry on our side of the conversation with God. Even reciting a centering word or phrase can drown out the God side of our conversation. While we are actually far from it, we give the outward impression that we are sitting silent in the presence of God.

There are folks who can sit in silence, who are present without a personal agenda, who are open to hear what is going on around them, whose centering phrase actually helps them to center themselves in God. These are the folks whose souls wait in silence in the presence of God. They are not letting their minds race, they are waiting to receive what God has to offer. These are the folks who listen to us in such a way that we know we are heard. They don’t interrupt us to get their word in, they may not even say anything until several beats after we have finished our side of the conversation. They have a particular gift of silence and presence.

God doesn’t force us to be something we are not. If we are impatient God does not make us wait until we have cultivated patience. God finds a way to sneak a word or phrase into our lists, slips a name or face into our joys and concerns, is patient with us in the midst of our impatience. Over time the presence of God will likely change us a bit. We will be able to open up a slightly larger space for God to work in us and through us as the years fly past us. We will find ourselves better able to open ourselves to the steadfast love of God in a wider variety of times and places. We will find ourselves seated firmly on the bedrock of God’s saving presence even as we fidget and squirm in our impatience.

November 10, 2014
LCM

Psalm Meditation 751
Twenty second Sunday of Ordinary Time
November 9, 2014

Psalm 112
1 Praise the LORD! Happy are those who fear the LORD, who greatly delight in his commandments.
2 Their descendants will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches are in their houses, and their righteousness endures forever.
4 They rise in the darkness as a light for the upright; they are gracious, merciful, and righteous.
5 It is well with those who deal generously and lend, who conduct their affairs with justice.
6 For the righteous will never be moved; they will be remembered forever.
7 They are not afraid of evil tidings; their hearts are firm, secure in the LORD.
8 Their hearts are steady, they will not be afraid; in the end they will look in triumph on their foes.
9 They have distributed freely, they have given to the poor; their righteousness endures forever; their horn is exalted in honor.
10 The wicked see it and are angry; they gnash their teeth and melt away; the desire of the wicked comes to nothing.
(NRSV)

For many of us our heroes are folks who have accomplished something noteworthy, something a large portion of the world has noticed. They may be rich, famous, influential or a combination of some of these or other celebrated characteristics. We have another list as well. It is the list of folks who have helped us in some way, especially a way that required sacrifice on their part. They have given us a piece of themselves along with any resources they may have offered. These two groups of folks are often at odds with one another.

Our heroes tell us to get all we can for as long as we can and don’t worry about any cost that doesn’t accrue directly to us. That is, don’t hesitate to step on or over someone as long as there is a sizable payoff on the other side. Our mentors, saints if you will, are ever mindful of the effect actions have on others. The reason they have taken us under their wings in the first place is because of their willingness to invest in others at the cost of their own fame and fortune. Perhaps the reason the student often surpasses the teacher is due to the teacher’s willingness to sacrifice for the sake of the student.

The psalmist celebrates these saints who give freely to those who have needs beyond their current resources. The wicked, who were synonymous with the rich, get upset when people give away perfectly good resources that could benefit the holder of that wealth more than the person who receives it. The fact that the saints calculate wealth in a whole different type of economics is lost on those who see wealth in terms of money and property. It comes down to a question of which will make a person happy for the long term. Some believe that happiness comes from wealth, fame and influence, while other believe that happiness comes from richness of relationships. The psalmist chooses to celebrate relationships.

November 3, 2014
LCM

Psalm Meditation 750
Twenty first Sunday of Ordinary Time
November 2, 2014

Psalm 39
1 I said, “I will guard my ways that I may not sin with my tongue; I will keep a muzzle on my mouth as long as the wicked are in my presence.”
2 I was silent and still; I held my peace to no avail; my distress grew worse,
3 my heart became hot within me. While I mused, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue:
4 “LORD, let me know my end, and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is.
5 You have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing in your sight. Surely everyone stands as a mere breath. Selah
6 Surely everyone goes about like a shadow. Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; they heap up, and do not know who will gather.
7 “And now, O Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you.
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions. Do not make me the scorn of the fool.
9 I am silent; I do not open my mouth, for it is you who have done it.
10 Remove your stroke from me; I am worn down by the blows of your hand.
11 “You chastise mortals in punishment for sin, consuming like a moth what is dear to them; surely everyone is a mere breath. Selah
12 “Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry; do not hold your peace at my tears. For I am your passing guest, an alien, like all my forebears.
13 Turn your gaze away from me, that I may smile again, before I depart and am no more.”
(NRSV)

There is something comforting about knowing that we are under the complete control of another, until things stop going well for us. As children, it is does not even cross our minds that things cost money, time and effort. All we know is that there is food on the table, clothes to wear and a place to call home. We are unnerved to discover that things come to us at a cost that someone else has paid so that we can survive and thrive. The next surprise comes when we get to the point at which it is up to us to pay that price for ourselves and for others. We discover the kinds of sacrifices that folks made for our sakes with a sense of gratitude.

Part of the progression of religious faith development is that we begin with a sense that God provides everything for us, has our whole lives mapped out and all we need to do is follow the script God has written for us. Some folks are content to believe that there is no opportunity to depart from the script, we simply play out the parts in which we have been cast and all proceeds according to the will of God. As a theatre major in college, I had opportunity to work with directors who gave actors some leeway in interpreting the character. I have also worked with directors who did not tolerate even the slightest deviation from the script. There are folks who see God as one of these kinds of directors.

The older I get the more I see God encouraging improvisation. There is an arc, a direction in which God would like to see the story go and we are each allowed to exercise our free will in moving along that arc. God is so good at all this that as we change the shape of the arc by our words and actions God adapts the story arc to accommodate the changes we have made. All this to say that I believe God has given us free will, encourages us to exercise it, stays with us to love and support us when we do and is available to give us pointers and suggestions that move us all to closer relationship with God and with each other.

October 27, 2014
LCM

Psalm Meditation 749
Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time
October 26, 2014

Psalm 89:1-15,49-52
1 I will sing of your steadfast love, O LORD, forever; with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations.
2 I declare that your steadfast love is established forever; your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens.
3 You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to my servant David:
4 ‘I will establish your descendants forever, and build your throne for all generations.’” Selah
5 Let the heavens praise your wonders, O LORD, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones.
6 For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD,
7 a God feared in the council of the holy ones, great and awesome above all that are around him?
8 O LORD God of hosts, who is as mighty as you, O LORD? Your faithfulness surrounds you.
9 You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.
10 You crushed Rahab like a carcass; you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
11 The heavens are yours, the earth also is yours; the world and all that is in it—you have founded them.
12 The north and the south—you created them; Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name.
13 You have a mighty arm; strong is your hand, high your right hand.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.
15 Happy are the people who know the festal shout, who walk, O LORD, in the light of your countenance;
49 Lord, where is your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness you swore to David?
50 Remember, O Lord, how your servant is taunted; how I bear in my bosom the insults of the peoples,
51 with which your enemies taunt, O LORD, with which they taunted the footsteps of your anointed.
52 Blessed be the LORD forever. Amen and Amen.
(NRSV)

Remember when our parents could do anything and everything? They were there to protect us, to defend us, to feed and clothe us. Not only did they do these things they did them better than any of the other parents in the whole, wide world. At some point we realize that they have their limits, that they are not omnipotent, they are not perfect. For some of us, our parents become an embarrassment. More time passes and we begin to see that our parents are pretty wise and wonderful even though they have their limits. Many of us go through the same process with God.

We see God as able to do anything and everything, especially the things we want, the things that will make our lives easier, better and more fun. Then something happens. We ask God for something and it doesn’t happen. We are hurt and angry. We do our best to change something in the equation to keep our equilibrium. That doesn’t work either. I have found that it is much more fulfilling to see God as present rather than powerful, as loving instead of angry, as hospitable rather than hostile. God is not out to get us, not out to make our lives miserable and willing to be with us in all those times when things do not go according to our plan. When things do not go according to our plan we see God as a source of comfort in our suffering rather than the cause of all those things.

Is God with us? Yes. Does God protect us from all harm? No. Is God the cause of all the harm that befalls us or all the good that happens to and around us? No. God gathers us into loving arms and holds us as securely as we will allow. God offers us comfort through being present with us; not necessarily changing the situation at all, except by being with us. Sometimes knowing we are not alone makes all the difference in the world.

October 20, 2014
LCM

Psalm Meditation 748
Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
October 19, 2014

Psalm 12
1 Help, O LORD, for there is no longer anyone who is godly; the faithful have disappeared from humankind.
2 They utter lies to each other; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.
3 May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts,
4 those who say, “With our tongues we will prevail; our lips are our own—who is our master?”
5 “Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan, I will now rise up,” says the LORD; “I will place them in the safety for which they long.”
6 The promises of the LORD are promises that are pure, silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.
7 You, O LORD, will protect us; you will guard us from this generation forever.
8 On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among humankind.
(NRSV)

I take some comfort in knowing that folks have been voicing these complaints for generations. We bemoan the loss of faith, the loss of godliness, the loss of humility and the ignoring of the poor by those who have the power to do something to change these issues. It serves as a reminder that while God loves those with money, power and influence, the primary sphere of concern is among those who are left out of the upper echelons of society. Those who have money, power and influence have no need of an advocate; they are able to care for themselves and meet their own needs. It is those who are left out, pushed out and marginalized who need God.

God does work among the rich and powerful. God works by reminding each of us that just because we can take advantage of another doesn’t mean it is a good idea to do it. God pokes and prods us to look at life from the vantage point of the one we would otherwise dismiss as unworthy of our care and attention. We don’t always get it right as we look to the needs of others, however it is good to consider the other so that one day we think to meet one of ‘those’ people, build a relationship with them and ask how we might better meet each other’s needs.

God continues to work among us, even when we are tempted to use any power and influence we may have to our own advantage over those who have less. God continues to give hope and help and worth to those who would not otherwise have any and works among the powerful as a reminder to care for those in need despite the temptation to leave them behind as unnecessary and burdensome. The presence of God among serves to protect us from the vileness that tempts us on every side.

October 13, 2014
LCM

Psalm Meditation 747
Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time Children’s Sabbath
October 12, 2014

Psalm 140
1 Deliver me, O LORD, from evildoers; protect me from those who are violent,
2 who plan evil things in their minds and stir up wars continually.
3 They make their tongue sharp as a snake’s, and under their lips is the venom of vipers. Selah
4 Guard me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; protect me from the violent who have planned my downfall.
5 The arrogant have hidden a trap for me, and with cords they have spread a net, along the road they have set snares for me. Selah
6 I say to the LORD, “You are my God; give ear, O LORD, to the voice of my supplications.”
7 O LORD, my Lord, my strong deliverer, you have covered my head in the day of battle.
8 Do not grant, O LORD, the desires of the wicked; do not further their evil plot. Selah
9 Those who surround me lift up their heads; let the mischief of their lips overwhelm them!
10 Let burning coals fall on them! Let them be flung into pits, no more to rise!
11 Do not let the slanderer be established in the land; let evil speedily hunt down the violent!
12 I know that the LORD maintains the cause of the needy, and executes justice for the poor.
13 Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name; the upright shall live in your presence.
(NRSV)

Having never lived in a war zone, I have to compare my experience with what I imagine it would be like to be this close to a battle. Today, that means dealing with the internal struggles of being human. As the various parts of the day come to mind I hear the conflicting opinions of my abilities rise up to do battle. On the one side are the voices that wonder, “How could you have possibly thought that you were capable of pulling this off. You are going to ruin your day and waste the time of everyone present.” On the other side the voices remind me that I am not in this alone and that I have what it takes to make a difference. Interestingly, the voices of calm assurance are drowned out by the shouting voices of doom and despair.

The raging war is confined to one side. This is probably true more often than not for the conflicts between our doubts and abilities. The doubts cry out with the volume and pitch of fear. Streaming hoards of panicked creatures run rough shod over my preparations. The calm, reassurance of those preparations seems to be lost in the din of doubts. And then I take a deep breath and recognize that while silence will never overwhelm volume, there is a spot in the presence of God that covers my head in the day of battle and quiets the doubts.

Certainly, some days the doubts win and overrun the assurance and preparation. I go down in a flaming ball of defeat. Even then, the presence of God touches me with the assurance that this need not be the end, this need not be the last word. No matter what, God is with us, giving us a peace that is greater than anything life can send our way. At our best, we give thanks and rejoice in the presence of God.

October 6, 2014
LCM

Psalm Meditation 746
World Communion Sunday
October 5, 2014

Psalm 61
1 Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer.
2 From the end of the earth I call to you, when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I;
3 for you are my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy.
4 Let me abide in your tent forever, find refuge under the shelter of your wings. Selah
5 For you, O God, have heard my vows; you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.
6 Prolong the life of the king; may his years endure to all generations!
7 May he be enthroned forever before God; appoint steadfast love and faithfulness to watch over him!
8 So I will always sing praises to your name, as I pay my vows day after day.
(NRSV)

Some of the traits we inherit come through our DNA. Other traits come from the example that is set for us by the people around whom we grow up. Some folks learn the lessons of violence and abuse, some learn that wealth and power trump all other attributes, some learn the habits of serving others, just to name a few. As we are raised in one environment or another we learn to live as life is modeled for us. In many cases we learn how to act and in some cases we learn how we do not want to be when we grow up.

The psalmist is able to celebrate having been raised among folks whose example led to a relationship with God, even in this particular time of trial. We don’t know the details, we only know that the psalmist feels pushed to the end of the earth, to the outer reaches of where human life exists. At this edge of the world the psalmist knows that God is present and is able to lead from here to a place of strength and stability. In many instances simply knowing that we are in the presence of God makes a situation seem less daunting even as the danger remains the same.

Abiding in God’s tent, sheltering under the wings of God, we find a security that is not available any other place. There is great comfort in knowing we are not alone in any time and place. To know that we are in the presence of God is greater comfort still. As we experience ourselves in the presence of God we join our hearts and voices with the psalmist, “I will always sing praises to your name...”

September 29, 2014
LCM

Psalm Meditation 745
Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
September 28, 2014

Psalm 111
1 Praise the LORD! I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation.
2 Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them.
3 Full of honor and majesty is his work, and his righteousness endures forever.
4 He has gained renown by his wonderful deeds; the LORD is gracious and merciful.
5 He provides food for those who fear him; he is ever mindful of his covenant.
6 He has shown his people the power of his works, in giving them the heritage of the nations.
7 The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy.
8 They are established forever and ever, to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.
9 He sent redemption to his people; he has commanded his covenant forever. Holy and awesome is his name.
10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever.
(NRSV)

There are folks of whom I have been afraid at various times in my life: parents of some of my friends, teachers and professors, bosses, colleagues, church members and total strangers. In many of these cases I have overcome the initial fear and made lasting relationships with these folks. In others I found out too late that there were interesting aspects to these people that would have made for great relationships, if only I had made the effort to overcome my fears. All that to say that it is time for us to stop being afraid of God by the usual definition of fear.

I have had folks tell me their concerns while also saying it is too small a thing to bring to God in prayer. My relationship with these people is such that they can let me know what troubles them even as they are afraid to bother God with such a small thing. I don’t remember saying to them, ‘yes, that is a small thing and I wonder why you even bothered me with it.’ I am more likely to quote John Wesley, one of the founders of the Methodist movement, “If it is worth worrying about, it is worth praying about.” The love God has for us extends to the most trivial of our concerns for our lives and the lives of those around us.

A better understanding of ’The fear of the LORD’ is to be in awe, to be amazed that one who is responsible for such works of honor and majesty also wants to have a personal relationship with each of us. This kind of fear draws us in and puts us at ease calming many of the other fears that we bring with us into the presence of God. It is as if the most famous person you would ever want to meet asks to spend time with you alone. It is intimidating and exhilarating all in the same moment. God wants to be invited into our circle. When we open ourselves to God we find that we open ourselves to wisdom and understanding, as well as to people and experiences beyond our current expectations.

September 22, 2014
LCM

Psalm Meditation 744
Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
September 21, 2014

Psalm 40
1 I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry.
2 He drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.
3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD.
4 Happy are those who make the LORD their trust, who do not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after false gods.
5 You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you. Were I to proclaim and tell of them, they would be more than can be counted.
6 Sacrifice and offering you do not desire, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.
7 Then I said, “Here I am; in the scroll of the book it is written of me.
8 I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”
9 I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation;
see, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O LORD.
10 I have not hidden your saving help within my heart, I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.
11 Do not, O LORD, withhold your mercy from me; let your steadfast love and your faithfulness keep me safe forever.
12 For evils have encompassed me without number; my iniquities have overtaken me, until I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails me.
13 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me; O LORD, make haste to help me.
14 Let all those be put to shame and confusion who seek to snatch away my life; let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who desire my hurt.
15 Let those be appalled because of their shame who say to me, “Aha, Aha!”
16 But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the LORD!”
17 As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me.
You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God.
(NRSV)

One of the difficulties of an individualistic view of religion is that we tend to jump into things with lots of enthusiasm but without focus and refinement. When the psalmist writes about having spoken of God’s steadfast love and faithfulness, it begins in the great congregation. In the congregation, in the midst of others who have had their own experience and their own encounter with God, a word of witness can be turned from an enthusiastic rant into a compelling and captivating word for those who have yet to have a personal experience with God. The folks in the congregation offer a person who has just had an encounter with the living God a place to gush about their experience without scaring away someone who neither knows nor understands what the witness has gone through.

A willing ear and a guiding hand from one who has had their own encounter with God can help drain some of the wide eyed recklessness out of the story so that the power of the experience remains. To have a person or group make the time to help us practice, edit and refine the words of our witness takes us from scary ‘buttonhole evangelists’ to powerful witnesses to the love God has for each and all of us. The great congregation helps make each of us stronger as we push, pull, lift and lower together.

The collective wisdom of years, decades and centuries of experience of and encounters with the living God make the great congregation an excellent group of which to be a part. The accountability of the group keeps us from holding our relationship with God so close that we become as Gollum holding his ‘precious’ in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It is in the mix of the great congregation that we “seek you, rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the LORD!””

September 15, 2014
LCM

Psalm Meditation 743
Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
September 14, 2014

Psalm 90
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
3 You turn us back to dust, and say, “Turn back, you mortals.”
4 For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night.
5 You sweep them away; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning;
6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.
7 For we are consumed by your anger; by your wrath we are overwhelmed.
8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance.
9 For all our days pass away under your wrath; our years come to an end like a sigh.
10 The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps eighty, if we are strong;
even then their span is only toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.
11 Who considers the power of your anger? Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.
12 So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.
13 Turn, O LORD! How long? Have compassion on your servants!
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us, and as many years as we have seen evil.
16 Let your work be manifest to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.
17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands—O prosper the work of our hands!
(NRSV)

There is no way we can define who God is without using comparison. The only things to which we can compare God are things with which we are already familiar. For the psalmist, the most powerful person known would have been the king. Since the king was one to nurse grudges, to hold folks accountable for the smallest slight and to withhold favor for the littlest of reasons, there was no reason to think that God would treat us any other way. It is easy to imagine God sitting at a table with papers scattered across it, each one a catalog of the sins of a person or group who needed to be taught a lesson.

God is seen as angry, wrathful and judgmental, needing to be appeased for each little sin we have committed. When wars and disasters eat away at our population we assume that God is angry and that we need to do something to get back in God’s good graces. When we don’t figure out the right things to do to get back into God’s good graces, the anger hangs over us until we die. At worst it can even mean that a whole people dies out due to God’s wrathful vengeance.

At some point, it dawned on people that God is not as mean spirited as kings can be. Someone noticed that while a king would have had everyone killed, God continues to be present with us. Perhaps the love of God is even more steadfast than we can imagine. Perhaps God loves us more deeply than we can comprehend. Perhaps God can be angry with us because of the deep and abiding love God has for us. While there are still folks who believe that misfortune and calamity are caused by God there are many more who believe that in the midst of every part of life, good and bad, God is with us, loving us with a depth and breadth beyond our ability to comprehend.

September 8, 2014
LCM

Psalm Meditation 742
Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
September 7, 2014

Psalm 11
1 In the LORD I take refuge; how can you say to me, “Flee like a bird to the mountains;
2 for look, the wicked bend the bow, they have fitted their arrow to the string, to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart.
3 If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”
4 The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD’s throne is in heaven. His eyes behold, his gaze examines humankind.
5 The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked, and his soul hates the lover of violence.
6 On the wicked he will rain coals of fire and sulfur; a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.
7 For the LORD is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.
(NRSV)

When confronted with disaster the easy choice is to run away, to allow our fears to take control and get us out of the situation in which we find ourselves. In many of these cases getting out of the situation is also the wisest course of action. It makes sense to get out so that we can be safe, so that we can survive to face the rebuilding that comes after any kind of disaster. Flight, running away, is one of our natural defenses against any kind of danger.

There are folks who have cultivated another reaction to disaster. They make the effort to run toward danger in order to help any who may not have the wherewithal to get out on their own. In many cases these folks are people of faith. Some have faith in their particular skills and training, some have faith in the power of community, and some faith in God. It may be a mix of two or more of these that moves a person to rush into a dangerous situation instead of running away. It is a recognition that danger and disaster is not the last word in any situation.

God is present in the folks who run toward disaster in order to offer help. Whether that is anywhere in the helper’s awareness or not, God is present in the lives and works of those who offer themselves to others in the face of disaster. God loves righteous deeds and is present in all the places where righteousness happens. Some of the folks, those tuned to the presence of God in their lives and the lives of others, will see God at work in this and every situation.

September 1, 2014
LCM

Psalm Meditation 741
Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time
August 31, 2014

Psalm 141
1 I call upon you, O LORD; come quickly to me; give ear to my voice when I call to you.
2 Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice.
3 Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips.
4 Do not turn my heart to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with those who work iniquity; do not let me eat of their delicacies.
5 Let the righteous strike me; let the faithful correct me. Never let the oil of the wicked anoint my head, for my prayer is continually against their wicked deeds.
6 When they are given over to those who shall condemn them, then they shall learn that my words were pleasant.
7 Like a rock that one breaks apart and shatters on the land, so shall their bones be strewn at the mouth of Sheol.
8 But my eyes are turned toward you, O GOD, my Lord; in you I seek refuge; do not leave me defenseless.
9 Keep me from the trap that they have laid for me, and from the snares of evildoers.
10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I alone escape.
(NRSV)

It is not always easy to tell good from bad, right from wrong, righteousness from sin. The psalmist is caught between following the practices and habits that lead to God and the temptation, from within or without, to take up a new set of habits that lead down a path to destruction. Despite our protests to the contrary, words do have the power to hurt and to heal, so the psalmist asks for God’s help in keeping hurtful words out of lips and heart. Even though the promise of hurtful words is that they will be sweet, for a moment, there is also the recognition that there is a price to pay for them. As with any sweet treat, there is the initial pleasure followed by the price that must be paid for the indulgence.

Once we get drawn in to a course of action, a group of practices, it becomes very hard to break free of whatever habits we may have formed for good or ill. While it may take discipline and vigilance to form good habits, it is possible to make and keep them without a lot of thought or effort once we have established our pattern. Bad habits may be easier to form since they take less effort from the beginning, however they take a much higher toll on us through the weeks, months and years.

As we join the psalmist in asking God’s help in avoiding evil practices and habits in the first place we do not have to fight to break the habits and still have the price to pay for them. As we are able to guard our lips, our hearts, our hands from the tempting evils in the first place the more readily we can turn to God with our whole hearts in every part of life.

August 25, 2014
LCM

Psalm Meditation 740
Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time
August 24, 2014

Psalm 60
1 O God, you have rejected us, broken our defenses; you have been angry; now restore us!
2 You have caused the land to quake; you have torn it open; repair the cracks in it, for it is tottering.
3 You have made your people suffer hard things; you have given us wine to drink that made us reel.
4 You have set up a banner for those who fear you, to rally to it out of bowshot. Selah
5 Give victory with your right hand, and answer us, so that those whom you love may be rescued.
6 God has promised in his sanctuary: “With exultation I will divide up Shechem, and portion out the Vale of Succoth.
7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine; Ephraim is my helmet; Judah is my scepter.
8 Moab is my washbasin; on Edom I hurl my shoe; over Philistia I shout in triumph.”
9 Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom?
10 Have you not rejected us, O God? You do not go out, O God, with our armies.
11 O grant us help against the foe, for human help is worthless.
12 With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes.
(NRSV)

For the ancients wars and battles were waged from the heavens and the people involved were tokens and pieces in the game being played by the deities of the various nations. When one side was winning it was because their heavenly rulers were paying attention to the contest on the field of battle. The folks who were losing were being ignored or rejected by their divine warlord. The psalmist is aware that Israel is not doing well in this battle, so it must mean that they have been rejected for some fault of theirs. This psalm serves to remind God of promises of victory made to Israel against the surrounding nations and to ask how this victory can be achieved without the help of God.

While we no longer see war as a chess match pitting national deities against each other, we do find ourselves wondering where God is when our own lives, or the lives of our loved ones, are not going well. We wonder why God is allowing us to suffer, to go through this particular trial without divine help. As with the psalmists, we find ourselves asking these questions of God even as we wonder why God is not present for us. In one sense we answer a part of our own question by asking it of God. We have an awareness that God is around here somewhere, we simply have no idea where. As with children playing peek-a-boo to learn that people and things do not disappear when they are not seen, we learn that God is with us even when we don’t know where or how.

Some folks are content to believe that bad things happen to us, and especially to others, as punishment from God. Others see God as present in every situation, leading and guiding us forward through the trials of our lives, or at least being present to ache and cry and suffer alongside us. I can certainly appreciate the assurance that comes from knowing that God is in charge, making things happen in each one of our lives. I find much more comfort in God being with us in every situation, giving comfort and assurance and being present with us in every circumstance of our lives.

August 18, 2014
LCM manifold@lightbound.com
http://psalmmeditations.blogspot.com/

Psalm Meditation 739
Tenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
August 17, 2014

Psalm 110
1 The LORD says to my lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.”
2 The LORD sends out from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your foes.
3 Your people will offer themselves willingly on the day you lead your forces on the holy mountains. From the womb of the morning, like dew, your youth will come to you.
4 The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”
5 The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
6 He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter heads over the wide earth.
7 He will drink from the stream by the path; therefore he will lift up his head.
(NRSV)

Knowing that God is willing and able to fight our battles for us can be a great source of comfort. To be able to sit back and watch the battle rage, knowing that victory is assured, can be pretty thrilling. The difficulty comes when we begin to believe that our enemies are also The enemies of God. In that case we see God as under our command, one we can send out to do our bidding no matter what the conflict. We then become arrogant and nasty as we know that we are unstoppable and unbeatable. Our giant can crush the heads of any and all who stand against us.

Fortunately, God is willing to stand with us when we oppressed, downtrodden and in the right. God is not at our beck and call so much as on the side of justice and righteousness. God is not a celestial bully or mercenary who fights on the side of the highest bidder. When God fights with us it continues to be a struggle for us as the opposing forces are strong, entrenched and convinced of the rightness of their position. My guess is that in most conflicts God has a place on each side. Most arguments, conflicts, battles and wars are made by folks who have a kernel of truth, justice and righteousness surrounded by self-justification, pettiness, scarcity thinking, arrogance and lust for power. God supports the justice and righteousness and joins the battle against the rest.

On every side of a conflict there are voices raised in a call for justice and righteousness. We want to ignore those voices since they fly in the face of our other reasons for this battle. Those voices call us to see and appreciate the personhood of those with whom we disagree. Those voices call us to move toward justice and righteousness even, and especially, when it means we do well to repent of the thoughts, words and actions that lead away from the justice and righteousness we claim to seek. Those voices call to turn to God.


August 11, 2014
LCM manifold@lightbound.com
http://psalmmeditations.blogspot.com/

Psalm Meditation 738
Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time
August 10, 2014

Psalm 41
1 Happy are those who consider the poor; the LORD delivers them in the day of trouble.
2 The LORD protects them and keeps them alive; they are called happy in the land. You do not give them up to the will of their enemies.
3 The LORD sustains them on their sickbed; in their illness you heal all their infirmities.
4 As for me, I said, “O LORD, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you.”
5 My enemies wonder in malice when I will die, and my name perish.
6 And when they come to see me, they utter empty words, while their hearts gather mischief; when they go out, they tell it abroad.
7 All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me.
8 They think that a deadly thing has fastened on me, that I will not rise again from where I lie.
9 Even my bosom friend in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted the heel against me.
10 But you, O LORD, be gracious to me, and raise me up, that I may repay them.
11 By this I know that you are pleased with me; because my enemy has not triumphed over me.
12 But you have upheld me because of my integrity, and set me in your presence forever.
13 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and Amen.
(NRSV)

Much of the gossip we share these days is somewhere between harmless and helpful, it is a way to share information about the folks around whom we live and work. There is another kind, the kind by which the psalmist has been victimized. This gossip has as its intent the destruction of the reputation of the one about whom the gossip is being spread. In this type of gossip folks gain the trust of their victim, get all sorts of dangerous and damaging information and then spread that information as widely as possible. The more damage that can be done to the person, the more successful the gossip campaign is seen.

The psalmist turns to the one who already knows all the same information about us and continues to love us and to want the very best and most abundant life possible for us. Yes, there is some vindictiveness in the psalmist’s desire to be raised up in order to repay the damage done by this gossip campaign. It is a great fantasy of those whose lives and reputations have been damaged to be able to inflict the same kind of hurt on those responsible. The deeper intent is to rise above the damage done by these folks and to live in the presence of God as a person of integrity.

God is gracious, lifts us up beyond our revenge fantasies and invites us to live in such a way that any gossip, even the most malicious, is ignored by those who know and love us. We find ourselves aiming toward God in the various parts of our lives, being more concerned about how God thinks of us than how others do and treating others more as God treats us than as any malicious bullies might treat us and those around us.

August 4, 2014
LCM

Psalm Meditation 737
Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time
August 3, 2014

Psalm 91
1 You who live in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
2 will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.”
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence;
4 he will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
5 You will not fear the terror of the night, or the arrow that flies by day,
6 or the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the LORD your refuge, the Most High your dwelling place,
10 no evil shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.
14 Those who love me, I will deliver; I will protect those who know my name.
15 When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honor them.
16 With long life I will satisfy them, and show them my salvation.
(NRSV)

To take this psalm literally is dangerous to body and soul. To take this psalm seriously is quite another matter. We know that suffering is a part of the life of each person and that God does not pull us out of trouble when we get into it or put up a blockade to keep us out of the dangers that are a part of life. When Jesus was tempted with verses 11 and 12 he was unwilling to test the literal truth even as he was more than willing to put his whole faith and trust in God. There are people of faith who walk into dangerous situations and come out unharmed. There are other situations in which people of faith do get hurt and do get killed without regard to their faithfulness. And there are folks who walk into situations that seem dangerous and deadly to us which hold no fear for them. As people of faith we are not exempt from the suffering and danger of the world around us.

In times of crisis, people of faith have a touch point that is missing in the lives of others. We have a place, a person, where we can turn to keep our hope and courage centered. The presence of God does not change the outward appearance of the situation in any way. The presence of God does not keep us from hurting and suffering. The presence of God gives us hope that no matter what God is with us. God offers us the comfort of the divine presence. In most times of suffering the most comforting thing to know is that we are not alone.

I imagine that for the psalmist the phrase that gets left out of many of the sentences of this psalm is, ‘it is as if…’ Secure in the presence of God, it is as if we are covered by the wings of God, as if we are kept from injury and death, as if angels watch over us to keep us from even the smallest tripping hazard. The presence of God does not change what is going on around us, protect us from or pull us out of danger. The presence of God changes us, giving us help, hope and perspective in facing the trials of our lives.

July 28, 2014
LCM

Psalm Meditation 736
Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time
July 27, 2014

Psalm 10
1 Why, O LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
2 In arrogance the wicked persecute the poor—let them be caught in the schemes they have devised.
3 For the wicked boast of the desires of their heart, those greedy for gain curse and renounce the LORD.
4 In the pride of their countenance the wicked say, “God will not seek it out”; all their thoughts are, “There is no God.”
5 Their ways prosper at all times; your judgments are on high, out of their sight; as for their foes, they scoff at them.
6 They think in their heart, “We shall not be moved; throughout all generations we shall not meet adversity.”
7 Their mouths are filled with cursing and deceit and oppression; under their tongues are mischief and iniquity.
8 They sit in ambush in the villages; in hiding places they murder the innocent. Their eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;
9 they lurk in secret like a lion in its covert; they lurk that they may seize the poor; they seize the poor and drag them off in their net.
10 They stoop, they crouch, and the helpless fall by their might.
11 They think in their heart, “God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it.”
12 Rise up, O LORD; O God, lift up your hand; do not forget the oppressed.
13 Why do the wicked renounce God, and say in their hearts, “You will not call us to account”?
14 But you do see! Indeed you note trouble and grief, that you may take it into your hands; the helpless commit themselves to you; you have been the helper of the orphan.
15 Break the arm of the wicked and evildoers; seek out their wickedness until you find none.
16 The LORD is king forever and ever; the nations shall perish from his land.
17 O LORD, you will hear the desire of the meek; you will strengthen their heart, you will incline your ear
18 to do justice for the orphan and the oppressed, so that those from earth may strike terror no more.
(NRSV)

We live in a world of abundance and behave as if we lived in a world of scarcity. Since there can’t possibly be enough to go around, I will grab for all I can at every opportunity. Once I have amassed the biggest pile of property, I will protect it from you so that you can’t get any of mine and then will do what I can to keep you from getting any from anywhere, let alone from me. Some of us are so convinced of the scarcity of the world’s resources that we use them sparingly after having collected them. We become hoarders and misers, fearful of anyone who appears to be a threat to our stuff.

In biblical times the belief was that there was a set limit to wealth that had already been realized and the only way to get more was at the expense of someone else. That meant that the only way to get rich was by taking from someone else and in the case of the very rich, by taking from everyone else. While we know that there is a limit to the resources of the earth, we have not reached the point of there being no more wealth available. It is possible that making resources available to those who have little to none will actually open up new economic horizons for those with as well as those without wealth in the current scheme of things.

No matter the current state of the economy, it falls to the people of God to share our resources with those who have none. It is not because they deserve it or have done something to earn it, so much as it is an expression of gratitude on our part for the gracious generosity that comes from God. Since all we have comes from God and since God leans toward helping those who cannot help themselves, we do well to help others with a gracious and generous hand as people of God, set apart for service.

July 21, 2014
LCM

Psalm Meditation 735
Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time
July 20, 2014

Psalm 142
1 With my voice I cry to the LORD; with my voice I make supplication to the LORD.
2 I pour out my complaint before him; I tell my trouble before him.
3 When my spirit is faint, you know my way. In the path where I walk they have hidden a trap for me.
4 Look on my right hand and see—there is no one who takes notice of me;
no refuge remains to me; no one cares for me.
5 I cry to you, O LORD; I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”
6 Give heed to my cry, for I am brought very low. Save me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me.
7 Bring me out of prison, so that I may give thanks to your name. The righteous will surround me, for you will deal bountifully with me.
(NRSV)

Most of us feel abandoned from time to time, as if no one cares about us at all. There are some folks for whom that is true, who have no one who calls them by name, any name. They have few choices in their lives, especially when it comes to leaving a legacy. They can attempt to make a name for themselves through an incredible act of violence that draws attention from all of us who have previously ignored them. They can give up and let themselves fade away without any notice from the rest of us. They can turn to God, who knows each one of us, and live in the assurance that God is aware of their presence even if no one else is.

The psalmist chooses to turn to God, to take refuge in God’s presence. In the face of persecution the psalmist turns to God for relief rather than giving up or lashing out at these persecutors. Do the externals of the situation change? Probably not. Aren’t folks still out to get this person? Probably so. In many cases, the presence of God makes a world of difference even if the external pieces of a situation remain unchanged. The presence of God does more to change us than what is going on around us.

God is always a choice. When we turn to God feeling helpless, hopeless and worthless we find, at the very least, a sense of worth in the presence of God. As we find the assurance that our lives matter to God we find a new or renewed sense of hope in the future. As we grow in hope we find the strength to do things for ourselves and for others. We may not be remembered outside a small circle of influence, however we will know that we are in the presence of God who is the source of our help and hope and worth.

July 14, 2014
LCM

Psalm Meditation 734
Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time
July 13, 2014

Psalm 59
1 Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; protect me from those who rise up against me.
2 Deliver me from those who work evil; from the bloodthirsty save me.
3 Even now they lie in wait for my life; the mighty stir up strife against me. For no transgression or sin of mine, O LORD,
4 for no fault of mine, they run and make ready. Rouse yourself, come to my help and see!
5 You, LORD God of hosts, are God of Israel. Awake to punish all the nations;
spare none of those who treacherously plot evil. Selah
6 Each evening they come back, howling like dogs and prowling about the city.
7 There they are, bellowing with their mouths, with sharp words on their lips—
for “Who,” they think, “will hear us?”
8 But you laugh at them, O LORD; you hold all the nations in derision.
9 O my strength, I will watch for you; for you, O God, are my fortress.
10 My God in his steadfast love will meet me; my God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.
11 Do not kill them, or my people may forget; make them totter by your power, and bring them down, O Lord, our shield.
12 For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride. For the cursing and lies that they utter,
13 consume them in wrath; consume them until they are no more. Then it will be known to the ends of the earth that God rules over Jacob. Selah
14 Each evening they come back, howling like dogs and prowling about the city.
15 They roam about for food, and growl if they do not get their fill.
16 But I will sing of your might; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been a fortress for me and a refuge in the day of my distress.
17 O my strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress,
the God who shows me steadfast love.
(NRSV)

Sometimes we make our enemies by our actions and attitudes and sometimes our enemies choose us for reasons of their own that may have nothing to do with who we are and what we have done. Either way, when the attacks come we find ourselves calling out for protection and deliverance. We may have established a pattern of abuses and our enemies finally weary of it and rise up to attack in retaliation. We may simply be at a certain place at an inopportune time and be chosen by someone as the enemy of the day. The attacks are devastating no matter what the provocation. We turn to God for protection from our enemies.

In some cases we pray for the total destruction and elimination of our enemies, in this case the psalmist asks that the enemy be left with no power to rise up and that they consume themselves in their pride, curses and lies. As that happens it falls to the people of God to acknowledge God’s activity in our lives, rather than suddenly claim the victory as our own, forgetting about all the ways God has been at work in us. If we allow ourselves to become proud in the face of victory we run the risk of being consumed ourselves in our pride, curses and lies.

To be the people of God is to see God as active in our lives and in the lives of those around us. In some instances God will be building us up, in others God will be judging us, in all instances God will be loving us steadfastly and wholeheartedly. As people of God we look for the activity of God in our lives so that we can participate with God to the best of our ability. Where we are being built up, we exercise that gifts God is giving us, where we are being judged we are moved to repent, in all things we watch for and sing the praises of God.

July 7, 2014
LCM

Psalm Meditation 733
Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time
July 6, 2014

Psalm 109
1 Do not be silent, O God of my praise.
2 For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues.
3 They beset me with words of hate, and attack me without cause.
4 In return for my love they accuse me, even while I make prayer for them.
5 So they reward me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
6 They say, “Appoint a wicked man against him; let an accuser stand on his right.
7 When he is tried, let him be found guilty; let his prayer be counted as sin.
8 May his days be few; may another seize his position.
9 May his children be orphans, and his wife a widow.
10 May his children wander about and beg; may they be driven out of the ruins they inhabit.
11 May the creditor seize all that he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his toil.
12 May there be no one to do him a kindness, nor anyone to pity his orphaned children.
13 May his posterity be cut off; may his name be blotted out in the second generation.
14 May the iniquity of his father be remembered before the LORD, and do not let the sin of his mother be blotted out.
15 Let them be before the LORD continually, and may his memory be cut off from the earth.
16 For he did not remember to show kindness, but pursued the poor and needy and the brokenhearted to their death.
17 He loved to curse; let curses come on him. He did not like blessing; may it be far from him.
18 He clothed himself with cursing as his coat, may it soak into his body like water, like oil into his bones.
19 May it be like a garment that he wraps around himself, like a belt that he wears every day.”
20 May that be the reward of my accusers from the LORD, of those who speak evil against my life.
21 But you, O LORD my Lord, act on my behalf for your name’s sake; because your steadfast love is good, deliver me.
22 For I am poor and needy, and my heart is pierced within me.
23 I am gone like a shadow at evening; I am shaken off like a locust.
24 My knees are weak through fasting; my body has become gaunt.
25 I am an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they shake their heads.
26 Help me, O LORD my God! Save me according to your steadfast love.
27 Let them know that this is your hand; you, O LORD, have done it.
28 Let them curse, but you will bless. Let my assailants be put to shame; may your servant be glad.
29 May my accusers be clothed with dishonor; may they be wrapped in their own shame as in a mantle.
30 With my mouth I will give great thanks to the LORD; I will praise him in the midst of the throng.
31 For he stands at the right hand of the needy, to save them from those who would condemn them to death.
(NRSV)

The best way to level charges against someone as the psalmist claims has been done in this case is to convince ourselves that this other is nothing like us. Whether it is former friends who have decided that this person is no longer one of ‘us’ or a group of strangers who have determined that the psalmist is not a person, the effect is the same. Once we demonize and dehumanize a person or group we can make all sorts of assumptions about how they behave and why they do the things they do. And it is usually for the worst of reasons. When folks take drastic and violent steps to be noticed, our assumptions are that there is something wrong with them and it is a shame they turned out that way. We do not pause to wonder what we may have done or left undone that would give them reason to snap.

Of course, our motives are always pure and motivated by the best of intentions. Our goal is to provide the best possible environment for ourselves and those we love, and we do that by putting up shields and barriers against all of ‘those people.’ Their task, as we see it, is to destroy all the wonderful things we have worked so hard to provide for ourselves and our loved ones. It couldn’t possibly be that we have shut them out of the very things they also want for themselves and their loved ones and any move toward achieving those things is seen as a threat.

It is easy to demonize and dehumanize, even folks in our own circle who no longer fit our mold. The difficult choice is to see those others as humans beings with their own set of wants and needs that may either mesh or conflict with ours. With a scarcity mindset, we believe that we can’t all have what we want and need so we have to protect ourselves from ‘them.’ God has given us a world of abundance and asks us to live as if all those others are our brothers and sisters who have wants and needs similar to our own. The hard task before us is to find a way together that meets all of our needs and provides a lot of the wants of this human family of which we are a part.

June 30, 2014

Psalm Meditation 732
Third Sunday of Ordinary Time
June 29, 2014

Psalm 42
1 As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?
3 My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me continually, “Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I went with the throng,
 and led them in procession to the house of God, with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help
6 and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep at the thunder of your cataracts; all your waves and your billows have gone over me.
8 By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I say to God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I walk about mournfully because the enemy oppresses me?”
10 As with a deadly wound in my body, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me continually, “Where is your God?”
11 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.
(NRSV)

“Where is your God?” is an easy question to ask and a hard one to answer, especially in a time of trial. Those who ask the question as a taunting challenge are waiting for God to come down and fix the situation in which they find us. Because God is not active in the way they would anticipate, they assume that God is not present. God is supposed to come down in a fiery chariot, and with the wave of a hand save us from any and all calamities. Especially, in the time of the psalmist, the power of the nation was in direct correlation to the power of the God or gods of that nation. As a nation defeated Israel they would certainly ask the question of this psalm with companion question, “Why could your God not save you from us?”

It is a hard to answer because a part of us is asking the question as well. We too want to see God coming to our rescue at the head of an angel army all with weapons drawn swarming down on our foe. Whether the enemy is a person, group, nation or situation we want the whole host of heaven to come down and put things right, that is, the way we want them to be. When things don’t turn out that way, we find ourselves asking where God is in our lives. If God is present, certainly things would happen my way. It may be a fleeting feeling or one that lasts awhile, however we do wonder where God is in all of this.

Gratefully, our view of God has changed because of our experience throughout salvation history. From a view that God will rescue us from every calamity we have moved to a view that God is with us in all times and places. Yes, we still wish that God would swoop down and rescue us, even as we know that the presence of God through the good and bad is more of a gift than deliverance from bad stuff could ever be. Folks still challenge our faith by asking, “Where is your God?” and we still find ourselves wondering the same thing. Eventually we join the psalmist in the refrain of this psalm, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.”

June 23, 2014
LCM

Psalm Meditation 731
Second Sunday of Ordinary Time
June 22, 2014

Psalm 92
1 It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
2 to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night,
3 to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre.
4 For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy.
5 How great are your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep!
6 The dullard cannot know, the stupid cannot understand this:
7 though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever,
8 but you, O LORD, are on high forever.
9 For your enemies, O LORD, for your enemies shall perish; all evildoers shall be scattered.
10 But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; you have poured over me fresh oil.
11 My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies; my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.
12 The righteous flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God.
14 In old age they still produce fruit; they are always green and full of sap,
15 showing that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
(NRSV)

It is good to give thanks to God and to give thanks to the folks who surround us. It seems the more we give thanks the more we see things for which to be thankful. That is, we find what we expect to find in so many parts of our lives. As we expect people to do things deserving thanks, and offer our thanks to them, we begin to see more people do things for which we can give thanks. As we look around with thanks on our hearts and minds, we find all sorts of things for which we give thanks. We can give thanks to God for the new day, for the promise of abiding presence in each and every day. We can give thanks to the folks around us for the big and little things they do for us and for others.

There are folks who expect to see evil and treachery all around them, and there it is. There are folks who expect to see nothing noteworthy in anyone or anything as they go through another boring day and they are not disappointed in their search for disappointment. There are folks who look for faults and flaws in all the people and things around them and they find fault everywhere. There are folks who expect a nice mix of good and bad through the course of a day and they find that as well. These folks do not live in separate places from each other, these folks live with differing expectations. What we expect to see is what we end up seeing. It is the filters through which we view the world that allow us to experience the world as we plan to see it.

The psalmist expects to see reasons for which to give thanks to God. The great works of God and the destruction of enemies are the particular foci here. Whether those works and that destruction are past, present, future or all three together in an ongoing process the psalmist gives thanks to God for the experience of life surrounded by these good things, and probably more. Since it is possible to grow more bitter and cynical as we go through life, it is also possible to grow more thankful too. Thankfulness takes effort. From the lives of those who live in thankfulness, it appears to be worth the effort. In this case it may be easiest to start big and work our way down to the specifics. It is good to give thanks to God.

June 17, 2014

Psalm Meditation 730
Trinity Sunday
June 15, 2014

Psalm 9
1 I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
2 I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
3 When my enemies turned back, they stumbled and perished before you.
4 For you have maintained my just cause; you have sat on the throne giving righteous judgment.
5 You have rebuked the nations, you have destroyed the wicked; you have blotted out their name forever and ever.
6 The enemies have vanished in everlasting ruins; their cities you have rooted out; the very memory of them has perished.
7 But the LORD sits enthroned forever, he has established his throne for judgment.
8 He judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with equity.
9 The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
10 And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.
11 Sing praises to the LORD, who dwells in Zion. Declare his deeds among the peoples.
12 For he who avenges blood is mindful of them; he does not forget the cry of the afflicted.
13 Be gracious to me, O LORD. See what I suffer from those who hate me; you are the one who lifts me up from the gates of death,
14 so that I may recount all your praises, and, in the gates of daughter Zion, rejoice in your deliverance.
15 The nations have sunk in the pit that they made; in the net that they hid has their own foot been caught.
16 The LORD has made himself known, he has executed judgment; the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. Higgaion. Selah
17 The wicked shall depart to Sheol, all the nations that forget God.
18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the poor perish forever.
19 Rise up, O LORD! Do not let mortals prevail; let the nations be judged before you.
20 Put them in fear, O LORD; let the nations know that they are only human. Selah
(NRSV)

Politicians speak in a way that will appeal to the crowd they are addressing. It can seem like waffling as they pick the parts of their action plan that will get the most support from the folks whose favor is being curried at any given moment. There are those, in several fields, who say what they imagine or believe the people want to hear in a given circumstance. Politicians have the reputation of keeping quiet about certain information in order to win support from enough folks to get elected so that they can carry out the unspoken parts of their agenda. They are not alone. There are doctors who believe it is unnecessary to let patients know that the odds of recovery are very slim. Instead they accentuate the rare cases in which folks have returned to health. Restaurants have been known to leave out ingredients in their listings in order to appeal to a wider clientele who would not choose an item because of the ingredients. Just a few examples of the sleight of hand in our lives.

One of the areas that seems to get left out of many agendas is the life of those in poverty. Since most of us would rather not think about how close this comes to us, by touching those we love, or by admitting how close we are to the edge ourselves, it is best left unspoken. The psalmist reminds us that one of the groups God will touch as the wicked are destroyed, are those who live in need and poverty. One of the ways that will happen is by force. Someone will come along and demand that those of us with an overabundance will have most of that confiscated for redistribution to those who have little. Since God does not work by force, what are the other options? Perhaps we will recognize that we who live in overabundance can do without a little and share it with those in poverty. Perhaps we will come to an understanding that there is enough for all and we can stop hoarding out of fear, so that others have access to the resources previously hoarded. Perhaps we will work together to teach and learn that the choices we make can alter each of our lives in the community in which we find ourselves. Perhaps we will discover that the success of another does not lead to failure on the part of those who live in abundance.

As we discover that we share a definition of what it means to be wicked, we will decide that it does not lead anywhere but destruction. As we make new choices, we will find that it is better to cooperate than to compete. We will find that the way of God that seems both ideal and unapproachable will be readily achievable together. As we come to fear God, in the sense of reverent awe, we will discover that we need not be afraid of those around us, we will find that we can work together to accomplish more together than we were willing or able separately.

June 9, 2014